Don's Blog "So Much For The Living Will" 2-12-25

Here is my editorial from Missouri Medicine dated November, 1990. Probably just

as important in the  process is the official naming of a health care surrogate who has the power to 

speak your wishes if you are unable to do it.

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 2-6-25

Here is one of my favorites. It is "Whiteout" - acrylic on canvass.

Its 3-D effect demands that you interact with it and then again.

Don's Blog "Disappointment" 2-5-25

Here is my Missouri Medicine Editorial published in October of 1990. That cannot possibly

that long ago.

Don's Blog 'Changing Mood' 1-29-25

For the last several years in the depths of winter I have been sharing editorials from when i was editor of Missouri Medicine. Here is the 50th in my files: 'Changing Mood' from June of 1990.

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 1-24-25

Here is a small winter scene: "Winter OnThe Lake"(Acrylic on canvas).

It can make you think - "What's going on here?"

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 1-20-24

In the late 1950's Ed Boyce recognized the wonder of A-frame cabins in the woods when he was in Colorado.

Years later he realized his dream of an A-frame community in Missouri first at Aspenhof and soon thereafter

at Innsbrook. We built our A-frame at Innsbrook in 1976 in the second phase. The resort was based on our love 

nature, recreation, and serenity. Here is Jan's painting of an A-frame in the mountains - the original inspiration for the 

Innsbrook community.

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 1-17-25

The Art of Jan Sessions -this is Jan's depiction of an Alaskan cache. In the bush Alaskans

build caches as a free standing building away from the cabin for storing food, clothing,

bedding , and other necessities in case of a cabin emergency. They are elevated against 

the bears and are approached by a ladder. 

For ten years this paining was in the Anchorage Art Museum.

silence

 is

a 

looking

bird:the

turn

ing; edge,of

life

(inquiry before snow

ee cumings  (1950)

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 1-13-25

Here is a work that was completed when we lived in Anchorage.

"Cabin" -collage with acrylic on canvas.

And here is another poem from Katie.

     Richard Wilbur

Don's Blog "A Winter Walk" 1-9-25

Here is a piece by Henry David Thoreau sent by my friend Katie.

Thoreau's A Winter Walk. 

But now, while we have loitered, the clouds have gathered again, and a few straggling snow-flakes are beginning to descend. Faster and faster they fall, shutting out the distant objects from sight. The snow falls on every wood and field, and no crevice is forgotten; by the river and the pond, on the hill and in the valley. Quadrupeds are confined to their coverts, and the birds sit upon their perches this peaceful hour. There is not so much sound as in fair weather, but silently and gradually every slope, and the gray walls and fences, and the polished ice, and the sere leaves, which were not buried before, are concealed, and the tracks of men and beasts are lost. With so little effort does nature reassert her rule and blot out the traces of men. Hear how Homer has described the same. "The snow-flakes fall thick and fast on a winter's day. The winds are lulled, and the snow falls incessant, covering the tops of the mountains, and the hills, and the plains where the lotus-tree grows, and the cultivated fields, and they are falling by the inlets and shores of the foaming sea, but are silently dissolved by the waves." The snow levels all things, and infolds them deeper in the bosom of nature, as, in the slow summer, vegetation creeps up to the entablature of the temple, and the turrets of the castle, and helps her to prevail over art.  ...

 The imprisoning drifts increase the sense of comfort which the house affords, and in the coldest days we are content to sit over the hearth and see the sky through the chimney top, enjoying the quiet and serene life that may be had in a warm corner by the chimney side, or feeling our pulse by listening to the low of cattle in the street, or the sound of the flail in distant barns all the long afternoon. No doubt a skilful physician could determine our health by observing how these simple and natural sounds affected us. We enjoy now, not an oriental, but a boreal leisure, around warm stoves and fireplaces, and watch the shadow of motes in the sunbeams.

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 1-8-25

Happy New Year!

Well here we are at the quarter century mark already.

Here is a contemporary work (acrylic on canvass) of the artist , Jan Sessions.

I love her use of gold leaf.

Flock

It has been calculated that each copy of the

Gutenburg Bible . . . required the skins of 300 sheep.

—from an article in printing

I can see them squeezed into the holding pen

behind the stone building

where the printing press is housed.

all of them squirming around

to find a little room

and looking so much alike

it would be nearly impossible 

to count them,

and there is no telling

which one will carry the news

that the lord is a shepherd,

one of the few things they already know.

Billy Collins  (2005)